Darkness
by Raena Lorezohaz
Summary: Robin meets his alternate-reality self! What will YJ do with TWO Robins?
1. Chapter 1

A NEW DARKNESS   
Chapter 1   
He soared through the dark, cold buildings, using only a cable and his own   
strength. He didn't care what anyone said, this was more exilirating than   
actually flying any day. He perched on a gargoyle, a vicious looking brute   
from nephilim nightmares, and looked out over the dark expanse that was   
Gotham. None of his friends, of the superhero variety, understood why he   
stayed here. The city had become one populated almost entirely by nephilim,   
and nearly all of the seraphim had left as a result. The seraphim saw the   
nephilim as lesser beings, bound to the ground. But he had grown to see them   
in a different light. When his father, a powerful seraphim merchant, had   
chosen to move to Gotham as many other merchants had done, he was appalled. He   
would be forced to associate with nephilim, to attend school with them. But,   
after only a few weeks that while the nephilim had no wings, or powers, they   
were no different from seraphim. They had families, crushes, petty fights,   
true love, and imagination.   
  
And then....   
  
Then he had seen The Batman. A nephilim legend in the flesh. It was said that   
he was a nephilim who had taken it upon himself to protect others of his kind,   
and anyone else who needed help. It had changed his life. He had spent years   
learning everything he could of Batman, and of his helpers. Eventually, he had   
found who he truly was, and was astonished. In truth, he was the most powerful   
Nephilim in America. After a confrontation, and severe training, he became the   
Batman's apprentice, his partner of sorts. He had taken the name 'Darkness'   
for he had the ability to block light in his immediate area. He hid his wings   
as well, appearing as a nephilim in his Darkness guise.   
  
But now... Now was not time for recollection. He was tracking a crazed   
scientist, who had created a device to transport oneself through universes.   
The man was deranged, saying that he would destroy everything, simply because   
his wife had left him. "I'll make sure she regrets leaving me, in every   
universe she could possibly exist in!" he had shouted. Darkness was on his   
scent though, and had followed him to the warehouse across the street.   
  
He vaulted across the street to the warehouse roof. Sneaking in through the   
roof entrance, he walked carefully down the stairs. Looking down over the   
railing, he saw Dr. Strangelove prepping his machine for activation. With a   
swift move, he leapt off the stairs, aimed to take out the seraphim.   
Strangelove must have heard him because, just as he activated the portal to   
another universe (which, oddly enough, looked like a gigantic television   
screen), he spun and swung out with a long pole. The pole caught Darkness   
square in the chest and he felt a rib or two break. The pole also served   
another affect, knocking him into the portal. The last thing he heard before   
he was lost in an endless wave of what looked like television static, was the   
Dr. screaming.   
  
"I wish I hadn't left Young Justice headquarters today..."was his last   
consious thought.   
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*   
Ooo. Where would Darkness be going? What's up with this freaky story anyway?   
You'll ALL see in the next chapter of A New Darkness !! Yay!!   
Disclaimer: uhmn. Darkness, and his world belong to me. It is based off of DC   
characters. ^_^ Don't sue me! I broooooooooke!   
And you can ALL thank my muse, Klarion, bum Bum BUM, the Witch boy for this.   
Really. It wasn't my idea. He and Darkness just ganged up on me. It wasn't   
fair. 


	2. Chapter 2

A New Darkness

Chapter 2

To put it lightly, she was bored. To use stronger terms, she was bored 

to a point JUST short of insanity. No action, no villians, no YJ meeting, 

nobody stopping by, nothing to do outside, nothing in ANY city she hadn't seen 

a THOUSAND times before. "Boredboredboredboredboredboredbored" ran through her 

head like an unruly 2 year old. Maybe she could go check up on Robin. Yeah, 

that'd kill some time. 

Right about then a giant TV screen filled with static popped up in the 

meeting room of HQ, which, luckily, Secret happened to be passing though at 

the moment. "What the--?!" Boredom flew out the nearest window. Out of the TV 

screen flew a young man... who looked just like.... "Robin?"

After the TV had ditched it's passenger, it dissappeared in a cheesy 

flash. He groaned and lay on the ground, hurting from the rather abrupt 

landing on the ground, as well as the smack his ribs had gotten. "Robin?" he 

heard a girl asking above him. Her voice was... rather etheral. Looking up he 

saw a girl made entirely of smoke hovering over him. "Uh?" He replied. Oh 

wasn't THAT intelligent sounding. She was... well, very pretty. He glanced 

around, and with a start sat up. "Headquarters?! What? How? When?" Then 

looking back up at the girl, "Who?" 

On second thought, it wasn't Robin. His costume was different, all 

shades of grey and black. And it wasn't an 'R' on his chest. It was a 'D'. He 

looked up at her with a grimace, which gave way to surprise. "Uh?" he said, 

then sat up with a start. "Headquarters?! What? How? When?" Then he looked 

back at her. "Who?"

WAIT. Let's be a LITTLE more polite, since you have NO idea what's 

going on. Right. Okay. "Um... I'm sorry, Who might you be? And how did I get 

here?" There. That's better. You sound LESS like a cave-nephil. He grabbed his 

side, since it felt like someone had smacked it with a metal pole. In fact it 

HAD been smacked by a metal pole, but not much ELSE feels quite like that, so 

we have a less than creative description. "uhmn..." the girl said, looking at 

him strangely. Then, she smiled. "My name's Secret. You popped out of this 

gigantic TV screen that just appeared out of nowhere and dissappeared." She 

paused for a moment and looked at him closely. "Are you alright? You look like 

you're in pain." Pain? Me? Naaaah. "Oof. Yeah, I think some of my ribs are 

broken." He grimaced. "Did you say a gigantic TV screen? Ohhhhhhhhhhh boy." If 

he fell out of a TV, that must mean he must be in some other universe. She 

blinked, then said, "Wait here. I'll go get a stretcher for you to get down to 

the infirmary." She was about to float out of the room, when he stood up. 

"That... oof ... won't be necessary. I can walk." She shrugged as he walked 

over to her. This was VERY strange. It looked almost identical to the HQ he 

knew, but there were posters for this show "Wendy the Werewolf Stalker" on the 

walls. Hm. He watched his guide for a moment, floating ahead of him. No wings. 

A nephilim? Or maybe she changed them into that coat she was wearing? "umn... 

excuse me for asking.. but what are you?" She turned and blinked at him. she 

became very serious. Oh no. You've asked the WRONG question. "I'm sor-" "I'm 

... I USED to be human. Now I'm ... I don't know. " Smooth going Timothy. Ask 

a sensitive question. 

He reached a hand out. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." He sighed. 

Ow. Oh yeah, broken ribs. "In my world, there are 2 major races, Seraphim and 

Nepilim. I'm not exactly sure what a human is." The girl, Secret, blinked. 

"Uhmn... well... they look just like you." It was Darkness' s turn to blink. 

Like him? 

He put two and two together. So, nephilim were called humans in this 

universe. Right. "This is the infirmary. If you wold go ahead on in and lie 

down, I'll go get someone who knows how to work the equipment." She smiled at 

him sheepishly. "Sure." He smiled back. She really was very pretty. He wen in 

and lay down in a cot. It was weirding him out, being in this place. He was 

sure now it was the Young Justice headquarters, but how did he get here And on 

this world?

Secret floated back to the communications computer. Calling up the 

first person she could think of, she called Robin. "Robin?" a moment of 

silence. "Robin here. Yes, Secret?" calm, cool. Secret told him what had 

happened. Another moment of silence. It was becoming a habit. "I'll be right 

there. Robin out." Secret sighed. 

It wasn't long before Robin arrived. He walked in and Secret escorted 

him to the infirmary. The young man on the bed rose into a sitting position as 

Secret floated in. His jaw dropped as did robin's when they saw each other. 

Then, in unison, they said, "YOU?!"

~*~*~* End Chapter 2 ~*~*~*

Author's notes: Whooo! Longer chapter! More secrets revealed, a couple of 

things, and a funny bit or so. Yay!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but Darkness and his world. Yaya. 

Heh. I hope you likes! ^_^

Next chapter: What is the deal between Robin and Darkness?! Come and see next 

chapter!!


	3. Chapter 3

(AUTHOR's addendum: Uh Hi! Anyway, I wrote this quite a while back… er about august 2001 or so, so please forgive it if it's a tad choppy. ^^ I'd rework it, but I don't have enough time on my hands what with the sequel to this fic and school. O.o)

A New Darkness

Chapter 3

Timothy Drake (aka Robin) was in no way prepared for this. He had 

walked into the infirmary expecting to find a superhero or villian from 

another dimension. But had he found something as simple as that? No. No, He 

had to come face to face with himself. Geezus. So, he had reacted as expected. 

"YOU?!" Pretty aptly summed up his feelings at the moment. What had gotten him 

even further was the fact that his . . . double had done the exact same thing. 

Timothy Michael Drake (aka Darkness) was not prepared for this. He had lain 

there expecting someone else to show up. Not him. Sheesh. "YOU?!" Pretty aptly 

summed up his feelings at the moment. What had gotten him even further was the fact that his . . . double had done the exact same thing. 

A second or two of silence passed. Secret floated by the doorway and 

looked confused. She was. VERY confused. They knew each other? And they 

sounded the same! Practicly looked the same. Maybe Robin had a twin brother he 

never told them about...?

"Are... you who I think you are?" Darkness asked. Robin groaned 

inwardly. "I don't need anyone overhearing this..." he thought. "Uh, Secret, 

could you give us a minute? Please?" he asked Secret nicely. She shrugged and 

smiled. " I guess. If you need me I'll be in the living room watching TV..." 

she floated out the door. Robin shut it behind her. "Okay," he turned to 

Darkness, "who do you think I am? I'd like to know who you are, as well." 

Darkness collected his thoughts for a moment. Best to put it bluntly. 

"You are Timothy Drake. Son of -" 

"That's enough. I get it. And you are...?" 

"Timothy Drake."

"Oh." 

Robin sat down, hard, on a chair in the room. Darkness sat where he was and 

held his side. Robin glanced over at him. "What happened to you?" "I got hit 

in the side with a metal pole and flung into an alternate universe. Nothing 

big." He smirked. "Right. Here, lets see if they're broken." 

~10 minutes later~

" I just thought of something. What'll I do here until I find a way 

to get back to my own universe? Stay here, go to Gotham, or what? " Darkness 

asked Tim. Robin shrugged. "Well, we're having a meeting tonight. We could ask 

them then." "alright. Thanks." 

~~~End Chapter 3~~~

OOOKAY! That was bad. Both Klarion and Darkness deserted me, so I had to write 

this museless. Grrr. Just wait till I get my hands on them. *pulls a mallet 

out of her subspace pocket *

Anyway, yadayadadisclaimers, Don't own Robin, secret, or YJ. I own Darkness 

and this story. Wah-ha!

Next chapter: the YJ meeting Oooh! Ahhh!


	4. Chapter 4

A New Darkness

Chapter 4

Darkness stood out in the hall, waiting for Robin to call him in. From 

what he understood, Robin was going to conduct the usual meeting, then call 

him in and they'd decide. He sighed. Why did this have to happen to him? Like 

his life wasn't complicated enough. "Come on in!" came a call from inside. 

Darkness stepped through the doorway and almost stared. Right in front 

of him were his friends, and some people he didn't know. They looked 

different... 

To say Darkness was weirded out would be understandable. To say Young 

Justice was weirded out, should be expected. "Another bird-boy? Frag." came a 

rough voice from the corner. Wonder Girl stared. Superboy was blinking his 

eyes repeatedly. Impulse looked from Robin to Darkness, and vice versa. Secret 

waved, and Empress just kind of shrugged. 

"People, this is Darkness. He's going to be in this universe for 

awhile and he's wondering if we would let him work with us." Robin stated, 

looking out over the group. Impulse was the first to speak. 

"HeyRobhelooksjustlikeyoudoyouhaveabrotherorsomething?" Darkness blinked. The 

speedster wasn't in his universe, he had no idea what to expect. "Wait a 

second, universe? What do you mean?" That was Wonder Girl. "Yeah, what's going 

on?" Superboy asked. Robin opened his mouth, but Darkness took over. "I'll 

take this one. Yes, I'm form another universe, an alternate reality. To be 

truthful, I am Robin. And in my alternate universe, I know some of you. In my 

universe as well, there is a Young Justice, as well as many other Superhero 

groups in this universe." 

"So, how did you get here?" Empress asked. So Darkness told them. 

There would have been a moment of silence, but an alarm went off. 

"uh?" Darkness asked, as the others bustled around him. (All but Lobo, 

but we know THAT already.) Robin was at the computer, getting the information. 

"Okay, we've got a man with hostages on top of the City Hall, and he's 

threatening to throw them off." Robin glanced back at Darkness. "Consider this your field test." 

Robin did a quick calculation in his head. The Supercycle wasn't 

going to hold all of them. "Lobo!" He called. "Whadda ya want?" came the 

reply. "Could you give someone a ride there? The Supercycle won't hold 

everybody." Lobo walked over and shrugged. "I guess." 

They all piled into the Supercycle. Well, everybody but Empress and 

Lobo. She had offered to ride with him as no one else would. Ah well. With a 

roar they departed the Hideout, and went to save lives. But they had no idea 

then just whose lives would be saved. 

*~*~*~* End Chapter 4 *~*~*~

Ah-ha-haa-ha! My muse came back! Yay! And don't worry, I won't drive you TOO 

far insane with the cliffhanger. 4 and 5 were GOING to be all one chapter, but 

I have to work at action scenes, I'm not very good at them. So, don't worry, 

I'll have next chapter out maybe even later today. ^_^

Oh, Rea, THANKS! ^_^ 

Next Chapter: What exactly did the narrator-person-thing mean? You'll find out 

in the next chapter of "A New Darkness" ! 

" 'Robin! NO!' Secret screamed. Darkness stared for a second, then flew into 

action."

Disclaimer: blah blah blah blah I don't own YJ blah blah blah blah I own 

Darkness blah blah blah Don't sue. blah blah.


	5. Chapter 5

A New Darkness

Chapter 5

The fight at City Hall was not going well. No one had informed Young 

Justice that the man was a metahuman, or that there were about 50 people on 

that roof. Robin, Darkness, and Impulse were trying to keep ROB(that's what he 

SAID his name was, honest) distracted, while the others tried to get the 

hostages off the roof. They hadn't expected them to be under mind-control, so, 

they were fighting back. It wasn't going well. 

Robin was standing on a narrow ledge, at the very edge of the roof. He 

was between ROB and his zombies, desperately trying to think of a way to break 

his control over them. He was thinking so hard, in fact, that he didn't see 

the zombie leaping for him. "Robin!" Secret screamed. He looked up in time to 

see the man leap onto him, and pin his arms to the sides. With a disturbing 

slowness, he felt himself falling. 

"Robin! NO!" Secret screamed. Darkness stared for a second, then flew 

into action. He leapt off the side of the building. Demmed if he was going to 

let himself be killed like this. With barely a thought his cape shifted into a 

pair of huge, raven-black wings, rooted in his back. He flew downward, using 

his wings to push himself faster, reaching out to grab the man and Robin. With 

a jerk that pulled his arms almost out of their sockets and strained his 

wings, he grabbed hold of Robin's foot. Oof. This time, using his wings to 

slow himself, he deposited robin and his attacker on the ground and landed 

himself. With a practiced movement, he knocked the man unconscious and off of 

robin. 

Robin looked up at him. "Did I know you could do that?" Darkness 

shrugged, a movement enlarged by the folded wings on his back. They were as 

tall as he was, and his feathers ruffled. "Ah. Uh, I forgot to tell you about 

these." Robin blinked. "What, am I a metahuman on your universe?" "No, I'm-" 

they were interrupted by shouts from the roof. "Perhaps we should go back up 

there?" "Yeah. Hold on." 

With a bound, Darkness leapt upwards, straining against gravity, and 

they rejoined the fight.

~*~*~*~End Chapter 5*~*~*~

Chapter 5 done. And distressingly small. I suppose you should just 

consider 4 and 5 all one chapter. Maybe when I'm archiving it, I'll just make 

it all one chapter. Hm. Anyway, I managed to avoid gratuitous action! Yay! 

(and yes, I KNOW some of you like action. I rather like action. I just can't 

write it worth a gallon of cooked spinach. Ah well.

Next Chapter: Wings!? What the...!?

Disclaimer: I don't own YJ. I own Darkness and this story. Yay! Heh. Don't 

sue me!!


	6. Chapter 6

Darkness 

Chapter 6

Things had gone downhill quickly for ROB after Darkness and Robin 

rejoined the fight. The appearance of a black-winged "angel" flying at the 

controlled mob seemed to send them into a panic, and they broke ROB's mind 

control. It was a work of minutes to disable ROB with the team's concentrated 

efforts. Job completed, they headed back to HQ to, well, talk. About wings. 

Darkness, being the gallant sort, or at least feeling guilty for 

making Empress ride with Lobo when he could fly, offered to give her his seat 

on the Cycle, he could fly in the pocket the Cycle created. He was a little 

suprised when she smiled and declined. "No thanks. I like riding with him. I 

think his hog likes me too." She smiled wider and walked over to her ride. 

Darkness just blinked for a moment, then shrugged and climbed into the cycle.

Back at HQ, there was a moment of silence around the meeting table 

before, with the wide eyes of a child, Impulse spoke. "Hey Darkness! Where's 

your wings?" Darkness had used his mind-trick again, and his wings had melted 

into his cape. Darkness smiled and concentrated on his wings for a moment. He 

attempted to prolong it so they could grasp what was happening. 

It was a strange sight, seeing black fabric transform into feathers, 

from feathers to wings. For the full effect he stretched them out to their 

full extention, his normal wingspan of 10 feet. When he had finished, all that 

remained of his cape was the collar. He used the moment to stretch fully 

before closing his wings.

Silence paraded around and did a little dance through the room before 

it was chased out by Lobo's snickering. "Bird-boy. Heh-heh-heh..." Robin and 

Darkness rolled their eyes together. 

Wonder girl spoke up, "So, um, how did you get wings? Robin doesn't 

have any, I think..." Wondergirl glanced over at Robin before looking back at 

Darkness. "I think I should explain my world first. Then you'll understand why 

I have wings. On my world there are two major races. The Seraphim and the 

Nephilim. I am a Seraphim. We're all born with wings, as well as certain , uh, 

powers. The powers vary from person to person though. Mine nullifies light in 

my general area." To prove his point, the room suddenly went dark. There was 

NO light, even though the lights in the room were on. Then, the light was 

back, and everything was normal. Wide eyes abounded. "The Seraphim are 

basically the aristocracy. They get the best of everything and consider 

Nephilim to be lowly, as they cannot fly without machines. The Nephilim are 

what in this universe you call humans. They have reached the same basic level 

of technology as you have in this universe. I on the other hand almost look to 

the Nephilim. They've achieved so much without powers or wings or anything. 

That would be why I hide my wings." 

Superboy had just opened his mouth to ask Darkness about Batman when 

the Bat himself came over the comm channel. "This is Batman, come in." A pair 

of tousled, raven-haired heads flew up to fix their eyes on the comm unit. 

After a moment's hesitation, Robin replied. "We read you Batman." The voice 

that terrifies continued. "We saw your fight today. We're coming by to talk 

about his new member. Batman out."

Young Justice (minus Robin, Darkness, and Lobo) cowered. The JLA was 

coming. Ooooooh god. "Well, yer dead. I'm getting' outta here 'fore the 

'hig-n-mighties' come. 'Nita, you wanna come?" Lobo stood and headed toward 

the door. Anita shook her head with a sigh. "I really should stick around. 

Don't forget dinner." She smiled at him. "Yeah." Lobo looked over his shoulder 

at Darkness. "Nice knowin' ya Birdie." He walked out the door. 

"Right. So the JLA is coming, people, lets make this place 

presentable!" Robin stood and clapped his hands together. What followed was 

perhaps the most frantic, whirlwind of a house-cleaning the world has ever 

seen. They had just collapsed onto the chairs, couches and floor of the living 

room when the JLA arrived. 

*~*~*~* End Chapter 6 *~*~*~*

Author's notes: RIGHT! So, lets see what happens now. JLA-ho! O.o I'm scared. 

Oh well. I hope people are still enjoying the series, and appreciate the 

explanation of Darkness's world I have in there. I figured it needed a little 

elaborating. ^_^ So, I'll be watching/reading Hamlet and being disturbed by 

original fairytales. LOTS of children-eating. And death. And torture at 

weddings. O.o 


	7. Chapter 7

Title: A New Darkness Chapter 7 

rating: PG-13(it's a safe rating) 

Soundtrack: A Day Without Rain, Enya CD.

The doorbell's buzzing rousted the tired group. "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT" Kon groaned from his position sprawled on the couch. Rolling over he floated to his feet. He was lucky. He was the ONLY member of the team not covered in dust. Well, the only non-gaseous member of the team. Secret was, as always, impeccably clean. But then again, HQ looked better than it ever had. The others made various sounds of protest and rose to their feet, dusting themselves off as best they could. Darkness followed the others to the front door to let the JLA in. Whooo-boy. 

The JLA took in the slightly dusty group with the spotless HQ and mentally grinned. Most of them anyway. Batman didn't. After the exchange of greetings and plesantries their eyes soon fixated on the young man standing to one side with a pair of huge black wings. It really was quite startling how similar he and Robin were. "Care to explain yourself, young man?" Superman asked. 

Th-thump. Right. Explain yourself. I don't even know how exactly I _got_ here, let alone how to explain it. Darkness thought. So, he gave the only rational explaination he could. He gave them the same story he gave Young Justice. Batman looked at him a little harder (he could feel the rest of YJ shrinking back form the force of that stare), and Superman looked curious. 

After he finished, Batman made a sudden command. "Robin, when you return to Gotham tonight, bring him." Robin nodded, a little curious, but agreeing. "Do you think that's wise?" Wonder Woman asked. Batman turned to glare at her, but Darkness intervened. "No, it's alright G—" he paused for a tiny second. That wasn't the name for her in this universe. His thoughts raced till he grasped the _right_ name. "Wonder Woman. I'd like to see how my Gotham is different from this universe's." After a second, Wonder Woman nodded, and he could see an almost there gleam of approval from Batman. "Do you have any leads on how to get home yet?" Superman asked. "No, sir. I haven't really had time to check things out." Superman nodded. "We'll see what we can do about it." "Thank you." Darkness replied. 

Soon after, the JLA left. The group again collapsed in the living room. "Hey Anita…I've been wondering…" Cassie said. "What?" Anita replied. "What did you mean, 'Don't forget about dinner,' When Lobo left?" There was a pause as the group's eyes shifted to Anita. She sat up and thought for a moment. "Well… Daddy wanted to get to know him better, so he invited him to dinner tonight." Silence. "Your father," Kon began, incredously , "the A.P.E.S. agent, want's to get to know LOBO better?! He probably knows his whole record front to back, even before the was, er, shrunk, and her wants to get to know him?" Anita shrugged. "Yeah. It's a dad thing." "Wait, Anita. You mean the 'getting to know' thing that your parents do when you're going out with somebody?" Cassie asked. Anita nodded. Cassie's mouth fell open, then she grinned. It took the others a moment longer to grasp what was going on. Their feelings were rather aptly summed up by Kon's statement: "You, Lobo…. Couple?!?!" Wide eyed stares fixed on Anita. "Yeah. Who'da thunk?" Anita grinned. "Speaking of which, I should get home soon for dinner. Bart, mind giving me a ride home?" Bart, being fairly openminded on the whole lobo thing, agreed, and he ran Anita home on his way back to Alabama. Cassie said she had homework to do that if she didn't do soon, her Mom would kill her. Kon was just dazed. They both flew off, leaving Secret, Darkness, and Robin. 

"Let's get this over with." Robin said. Darkness nodded and shifted his cape back to wings. He turned to Secret and smiled. "I'll see you later. I'll probably stay here for awhile." Secret smiled shyly back. "See you later." He and Robin left in the Redbird, and headed towards Gotham. 

Darkness sat perched on the edge of a roof, watching the people below from the shadows. It was different from HIS Gotham. His Gotham was… well, there wasn't the flight paths, no-one in the air overhead. The people seemed LESS downtrodden, perhaps because there were no seraphim in this universe. He knew Robin had gone to message Batman about their arrival. He missed home, to be perfectly honest. 

A slightly muffled scream came from the alley. Running over to that side of the building, Darkness looked down to see a woman being attacked by a group of men. Loosing a small sigh, and shifting his wings out, he jumped,using his wings to slow him some. He hit the ground right smack in the middle of the group, falling into a crouch and turning the wings back to his cape. The thugs panicked for a moment, then, realizing he was much smaller than them moved to attack. Robin sprang up and with a quick set of moves, finished one off. Another grabbed him from behind and squeezed. Darkness's ribs screamed in protest. They WERE still hurting, after all. Suddenly, the man dropped to the ground. A black blur was moving among the gang, taking them out with amazing precision. 

The gang was down, the woman had run away, shouting something about how a dark angel had saved her, and Darkness was left facing his rescurer. She was dressed in a costume similar to Batman's, cowl, cape, Bat-insignia in yellow on her chest. Her mask covered her entire face, and she stood with the grace an poise of either a dancer or a superb martial artist. Batgirl. Smiling, Darkness gave her a warrior's salute and bow. She returned the gesture. "So. You know Batgirl?" Deep, dark, spooky voice. Batman. "I know MY universe's Batgirl." Darkness turned to face the Bat. "In my universe she's a good friend." 

It was true. Cass, as he called her, was like his sister. At first it had been a simple arrangement. She taught him hand-to-hand, he taught her words. But they became closer, she pulled him out of scrapes, he pulled her out of incredibly reckless situations. It was much like the relationship Robin and Nightwing shared in this universe. Darkness had never managed to get along with Nightwing very well. Oh well. 

Batgirl looked at Darkness funny. "What?" he asked. "Wings?" she asked, gesturing slightly with her hands. He smiled. "Oh. I've hidden them." Batgirl nodded. "The roof" came Batman's command. Almost in unison, they shot their lines upward and scaled to the roof. 

Darkness spent the better part of that night talking with the Clan. How he got to be Darkness, how things went in his Gotham, mostly shop stuff. By the time they finished he was getting quite tired. Fun-fun. Now he had to get back to HQ. Robin offered him a ride, but Darkness declined. "You've got school. I don't. Don't worry about it, I know how to get back." He grinned at his counterpart and backed away from the others to give himself room for his wings. Batgirl tapped him on the shoulder. "Wings?" she asked slightly hopefully. He nodded, and shifted his cape to his wings. He stretched one out to Batgirl and she brushed it with her fingers. "Soft. Pretty." Was her reply with a smile to him. "Thanks." He moved to the edge of the building and let himself fall off, using the momentum to get him airborne. He was tired already, he wasn't going to strain himself by working at a standing takeoff. 

Moving higher into the air, on level with the 80 story buildings, he let himself be carried by the exuberance of flight. He let out a shout and barrel-rolled before looking up at the stars and fixing where he needed to go. 

Darkness touched down by the pool, hot and slightly sweaty from the exertion, despite the cool air at such a high altitude. Moving quickly to the locker room, he stripped down after finding a pair of swimming trunks in one of the lockers. Heading back out to the pool, he didn't notice a smoky outline at the patio doors. He lept into the air and dived into the pool, using his wings to propell himself forward under the water. Reaching the surface again he wiped the water out of his eyes and notices Secret standing nearby. 

He fought the urge to blush. To cover it up, he dove under the surface and swam to the edge of the pool nearest Secret. He rested his arms on the edge, letting his body float in the pool. "Hi, Secret." She sat on the ground in front of him and smiled. "Hi. You can call me Suzy." He nodded. "Okay Suzy." He watched her for a minute, she looked like she wanted to ask him something. She's pretty. Woah. Hold on there Romeo. "Something on your mind, Suzy?" he asked her, trying to de-rail his current train of thought. "Uhmn.. Well… I was wondering, uh…Well, how do you get your wings to change?" Ah-ha. So that's it. "It's a mind trick. Like, mind over matter." He watched her a second longer as she seemed to struggle with whether to ask him more or not. Goregeous blue eyes. "Would you like for me to teach you?" he asked her with a sort of gentle smile. Her face lit up like a kid's on Christmas morning. "Yes, please!" He nodded and attempted to pull himself out of the pool, only to discover, oh YEAH, my ribs are broken. "oof!" He flopped back down onto the side of the pool, his arms still on the ledge. Secret changed. Her form shifted until it was easy to pick him up, and she solidified just long enough to get him out of the water before she was smoke again. Darkness blinked at her a moment. "Wow. That's… handy." She shrugged. "I can only be solid for a few moments, I've been working hard at keeping myself solid, but it takes a lot of my concentration." "I see. That's why you want to know how I shift my wings, to see if it could help you. Well, we'll see." Darkness sat up opposite Secret. He was glad it was a mostly warm night, he wings could get a chance to dry out before he went inside. "Give me your hand." She extended her hand to him and he took it in one his. "Now make it solid." She complied and her hand became solid, and Darkness covered it with his other hand. "Concentrate on how it feels in your head to make it solid. Fix it in your mind" Her eyes closed and she nodded. "Got it?" She nodded again. "Good. Smoke again." Her hand reverted back to how it originally was. "Now, call up that feeling in your mind." He smiled as her hand went solid again. "Open your eyes." She opened them, and he held up her now solid hand. Her eyes widened, and she stared at the hand, touching it with her other hand. "That's… amazing! I'm not concentrating on it at all!" "You just revert it back with the same way you did before." He grinned at her. "That's how I change my wings. With a little practice you could solidify your entire body." Her smile could have lit up half of Gotham. Darkness forced himself to let go of her soft, slightly cool, hand. There will be NO falling in love here, boy! You're finding a way home soon, remember?

Suddenly, his exaustion hit him like several tons of bricks thrown by Superman. "I'm sorry Suzy, but I'm really tired. Is there a spare bed here?" She nodded and made her hand smoke again. "Yes. Follow me." Darkness rose slowly to his feet and followed her to the room after making a quick stop in the locker room to pick up his costume. He fell into bed with a sigh and slept like a log. 

He spent the next few days looking for a way home, until finally he hit on a likely place. There was a gothic clothing and magic shop in Metropolis that was rumored to sell real magic supplies and spells. Worth a look anyway. YJ piled into the Supercycle, except for Lobo being off doing _something_, god knows what, and Anita. who was doing something with her dad, and headed off to the shop in question. They had opted for their working clothes, instead of their civilian clothes, to better make an impression on the shop keeper. 

They walked inside to be faced with a _very_ gothic shop. The shop keeper came out of the back room, and the group spun to face her. He was tall, thin, and pale, dressed in a black brocade waistcoat, a puffy-sleeved white shirt with a cravat, and black slacks. His dark-brown hair was long, pulled into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. "Can I help you?" he asked. They stared. He _screamed_ Anne Rice vampire, from his posture, to the fact that he was incredibly attractive. Darkness stepped forward, and as he did the man's eyes widened. "We were wondering if you could help us." The man startled them all when he looked right at Darkness and said, "You want a Gateway." Darkness nodded. "Right. I need to get home." The man smiled and gestured at the others. "Make your goodbyes then, I'll ready the Gateway."

He went back to the back room without another word, leaving them alone. Goodbyes were standard, until he reached Secret. She smiled up at him and extended her solid hand to him. He reached out and took it, giving it a small shake. "I'll try to come back some time, so work at it more." Beautiful. Go, go now. "See you later." 

The man re-appeared in the doorway. "Coming, sir?" Darkness turned and nodded. "See you later Young Justice." They waved at him as he dissapeaed into the back room. 

The back room was dark, and on one wall was a swirling, stacicy vortex. "The Gateway?" he asked. The man nodded. "There is one Gotham. Perhaps you should check it out. Estoceria." "I think I will," Darkness replied and stepped through.

~End Chapter 7~

~~End Darkness 1~~

Author's notes:

Wow! Looong chapter. 5 pages. Well, Darkness gets a break for awhile while I write for english a bit. But don't you worry, I'll be picking him up again as soon as this paper is finished. 

The shop owner is a cameo from my boyfriend. ^^v Ah well. 

Disclaimer: I own the story, Darkness, etc, DC owns YJ, Supes and Bats, the Bat-Clan, etc. 

Thanks!!

(BloodFromStone: Ha-ha! I finished it!)


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